Robert Charles Tyler: Last American Civil War Confederate General Slain in Combat

Realizing he was badly outnumbered, Bragg withdrew from the region. Eventually, all Rebel forces left the state, leaving Kentucky firmly in Union hands for the remainder of the war. Bragg’s failures during the campaign brought complaints and censure from his subordinate officers. Polk, Lt. Gen. William Hardee, and several Southern newspapers criticized Bragg’s leadership. Others, including Kirby Smith, questioned his sanity. One Confederate wrote, ‘General Bragg is either stark mad or utterly incompetent.’ Many historians, including Bragg biographer Grady McWhiney, believe that nearly every Confederate officer in Bragg’s command lost faith in him during the retreat from Kentucky.

Not Robert C. Tyler. The enigmatic leader of the 15th Tennessee remained devoted to the Army of the Mississippi commander, even though Tyler’s division and corps commanders (Cheatham and Polk, respectively) harbored animosity toward Bragg. Apparently, Tyler was one of Bragg’s favorite officers, and their relationship would result in advancement for the Maryland general. On November 15, Bragg announced Tyler’s promotion to provost marshal of the army, ordering that he ‘be respected and obeyed accordingly.’

After the campaign, the Union Army of the Cumberland, under Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans, was established. He attacked Bragg at Stone’s River, near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where Bragg had concentrated his command. Although Tyler was not present for the battle, the regiment numbered a mere 140 members following the Kentucky campaign and the losses it suffered at Stone’s River. Tyler’s 15th Tennessee was consolidated with the 484 members of the 37th Tennessee and, perhaps as a reward for his unwavering support, Bragg named Tyler to command the new unit. It was one of several consolidations necessary at the time. Thirteen officers from the 37th Tennessee resigned in protest, although Bragg refused to accept their resignations. The officers apparently believed that since the 37th provided the manpower core for the new regiment, one of their own officers should command them.

The Battle of Hoover’s Gap was one of Tyler’s first engagements while commanding the 15th/37th Tennessee. Tyler’s regiment was within supporting distance of the fighting, but though he was ordered to the front, the battle ended before his regiment could reach the field. Tyler was acknowledged for the speed of his advance, however. On reaching the Southern lines, his men held the Rebel center, where they were subjected to severe artillery fire. One officer was killed and five enlisted men were wounded while holding the position.

In September 1863, Bragg’s command, now called the Army of Tennessee, still protected Chattanooga. However, in a series of masterful maneuvers, General Rosecrans detailed a large Federal force toward the city so skillfully that, almost without bloodshed, it forced Bragg to withdraw to Lafayette, Georgia. Rosecrans entered Chattanooga on September 9, but then divided his forces, while General James Longstreet reinforced Bragg with two divisions from the Army of Northern Virginia under Maj. Gens. John Bell Hood and Lafayette McLaws.

Crossing Chickamauga Creek, Bragg prepared to attack. The ensuing battle would prove to be Tyler’s greatest moment as a commander. His 15th/37th Tennessee were in Brig. Gen. William Bate’s Brigade, in A.P. Stewart’s Division of General Simon Bolivar Buckner’s corps.

When the fighting began on September 19, Bate’s Brigade attacked Federal troops near the Brotherton House at the center of the Union lines, Tyler’s consolidated regiment, kept in reserve, lay on the ground behind Bate’s attacking troops. At approximately 1 p.m., Tyler was called to bring his men to the front. With the Chattanooga road parallel to his line of battle, Tyler moved against the Yankees.

Moving through underbrush, the regiment closed to within three hundred yards of the enemy, where they were met with severe fire. Tyler recalled, ‘The firing here was for a short time spirited and obstinate, until the enemy gave back from my immediate front.’ When the firing stopped, he again ordered his men to lie down. As the Rebels pressed to the ground, fifty men from the 4th Alabama Infantry formed on Tyler’s left and joined his force. While Tyler integrated these men into his line of battle, Bate’s Brigade, which was several hundred yards away from Tyler’s regiment, was advancing. Distracted, Tyler did not notice that the brigade was moving, and his men became isolated from the rest of Bate’s command.